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Nice one Reg, I've fancied one of these for a while but no luck. The silver/greys are valued the same as the mauves but when I've seen them on ebay they've sold for a premium.

johnboy wrote:Nice one Reg, I've fancied one of these for a while but no luck. The silver/greys are valued the same as the mauves but when I've seen them on ebay they've sold for a premium.

I know what you mean John I've been looking for one for ages and they do seem to fetch a premium got lucky with this one on Belgium ebay for just under £16

Hello Reg, it is unfortunate the fault is on the Silver-Grey example, as that is the less common of the two you have shown and I reckon it is a temporary fault developed during the casting of the single component, quickly rectified before the mould was used again. If it were to be found on models made after yours (pretty much all of them, because it is the early version you have!), it would show up on these later versions but as a less defined mark where the mould would have been repaired, but I can not see it on the other model next to the faulty one, or they scrapped the faulty mould and carried on with the single mould left (very unlikely!).

I like the R.A.C. badge idea from Mick, it works so well, so all you need to do now is pay a draughtsman to draw-up some tatty old production drawing, showing the badge on the grille and say it is a genuine 'Pre-Pro' that wasn't made!!!

Ghosty.

another nice mini dinky that may have been detailed but otherwise very good

Hi Reg.
I don't think it has been detailed, here is a MGB and a Ferrari that I bought a few months back, the MGB has red painted tail lights. Also the Firenza you were interested in. If it is not good enough for your collection then no problem mate.

I would love the firenza Nick we'll sort out something that makes you happy
All my mini dinky models have lighting details and some have silver trim it's just the silver on this seems a bit bright and thicker than the others
I have the Ferrari is the mg a mini dinky too??

Hi Reg.
Yes the Ferrari is a mini dinky, These are the only two that I have with metal baseplates. I also have three stepside pick-up trucks, two of them in blue and a yellow one with a camper of the back, a chevy corvette, pontiac firebird, a chevy suburban and two econoline vans, one is a lwb in orange and the other is a swb in blue but all of these have plastic bases.

happy happy boy today finaly got a Firenza thanks to Nick a large hole finally filled and an unusual colour too
a nice pair of VWs for a bargain £10 each the blue one having a split rivet which is something I've not seen on a lone star before normally they have a spun rivet on imps and a screw on the flyers , maybe our resident guru Ghosty can shed some light on this , a SF iron fairy for £1 only needed a hook which I had on a RW beater out of the same box as the silver based pipe truck Nick found
a few huskys best ones being the cement truck with rear windows and a wizzwheels Mercedes with a white base
lastly a few matchbox best has to be a mint 51c with a white base and ok box for £15
and finally a 70a without any silver trim front or rear as a bin off ebay
all in all a good day

Hello Reg, I am very happy for you, for finally getting a Firenza, a bit annoying really, as only this morning I posted one of my Firenza models to you, but no matter, I have rang the 'Royal Mail' and told them to cancel the post and bring it back to me...

Your VW Mini Bus models are very nice and regards the base fixing 'Lug' on your Blue model, I understand it is something to do with the amount of opening parts on this model and because of this, they thought the body casting was going to be deformed during the spinning-down process of the front rivet, so the 'Lug' method was used. In fact it proved not to be suffering as expected, so the normal rivet method was used on the model for the rest of it's production period. However, they slowly reduced the number of opening parts on this model including closing-off the two rear corner windows.

I know of 7 core versions of this model so it seems it was a very popular model in the range and included in the 'Flyers' range with 'Low Friction' wheels.

GHOSTHUNTER.

thanks Ghosty does that make my blue one an early issue then ??
and these VWs look really nice with the flyers wheels especially the yellow ones (now my prime lone star target now I have a firenza)
about your aborted postal delivery , I can make space for a nice blue one